Why Am I Watching So Many Korean Dramas?!

New year and apparently I decided to take on several Korean dramas. I had been only watching about 2-3 at any given time, but recently just looked at my list and had 6 dramas and 2 web ones. This is just the Korean ones. I have a few Asian ones I’ve been watching slowly that I’m not including in this list because I really need to catch up with them!

Here are the dramas I’m watching with a little blurb about them.

Riders: Catch Tomorrow– I have been sitting on this drama for a little bit. It’s got a lovely cast, but the story sort of dragged with some of the basic tropes I dislike a lot: irritating mom and juvenile relationships among adults. Still, I’ll probably finish it this weekend and be satisfied with the story of 3 best friends (light bromance alert!) who band together to make a rickshaw business work. They meet obstacles, friends and love.
TIDBIT: Choi Yeo Jin‘s role highlights how subtly good she is. She manages to be more than a sexy woman every single time. She is so good.

Madame Antoine– Curse Sung Joon and his face. Oddly enough I have found this role as a psychiatrist to be slightly similar to his previous one in High Society. I guess if he can play the guy in denial of love well, so be it. My issue is still with Han Ye Seul. Still, after a few episodes, I kind of like their doctor vs. fortune teller pairing. Okay, I like it a lot. She plays the fake teller well. A bit of wide-eyed wonder with certainty at the same time. Though, if her character pulls some childlike bullshit like in Birth of a Beauty, I’m out of here!TIDBIT: Idol actor Jinwoon is in this. He’s like a rambunctious puppy. I don’t hate that because he sort of does it well.

Moorim School– This drama is a mess. Why do I still watch it? It’s a guilty pleasure. It seems more fit to be a web series, but someone missed that memo. It’s basically a secret school with a lot of talented and diverse students. The core characters seem to be Sim Soon Duk (Seo Ye Ji) & Yoon Shi Woo (Lee Hyun Woo), but there are people around that tangle around them. It’s a little all over the place, but I do enjoy watching Ye Ji a lot. She has a really great grounded aura that she brings to Soon Duk. It’s pretty interesting because with that, she’s been able to out-act several actors. Not that it is super hard, but it’s definitely good. TIDBIT: Former idol Alexander (U-KISS) is the antagonist of the drama. He’s decent. I hate his character! It’s kind of perfect.

Neighborhood Hero – I didn’t think I’d like this drama as much as I do. By default I had to check it out because of Lee Soo Hyuk, who is delightfully silly and aloof. Some of the acting was a bit rusty by Park Shi Hoo, but that’s sort of a given because of his scandal. Also the format of the show isn’t easy to convey. It’s a crime drama, but it has action and comedy. I’m sure it will settle fine, but let me tell you they showed the catalyst accident so many times, I thought I was watching Yong Pal.
TIDBIT: SNSD’s Yuri is so sweet in this. I love that her character has dreams of being a movie screenwriter and her imagination has clips on the show.

Cheese in the Trap– My favorite drama right now. Something about having a seemingly quiet woman who isn’t afraid to speak her mind in a relationship with a man who hasn’t had relationship challenge him. Park Hae Jin plays Yoo Jung with nuances that Kim Go Eun‘s Hong Seol notices. The show in itself is a little cat and mouse game. If you haven’t seen the webtoon, don’t bother. Let this show stand alone. Some characters are just crazy, but that kind of crazy I think opens the relationship between Yoo Jung and Hong Seol in a way that no one else has.
TIDBIT: Seo Kang Joon (everyone’s favorite actor-idol) is absolutely killing his role of Baek In Ho. Did I think he could pull both being reckless and passionate? No. I was so wrong.

One More Happy Ending– Let’s see, Jang Na Ra (as Han Mi Mo) and Jung Kyung Ho (as Song Soo Hyuk) playing cute like how cute older actors should play cute? I AM IN. I think these are both people who are very aware of their youthful looks, but also their age and it translates well into roles like this. Happy Ending is a romcom about a second chance marriage matchmaker created by a former idol star (played by Na Ra). She’s close with most of her former members and I love that they include them in the storyline. Some of my favorite kdramas are the ones with a group of best friends. Kyung Ho plays a tabloid reporter who ends up tangled with Na Ra. They find out they have a history and hilarity ensues.
TIDBIT: I love that Yoo In Na is a hot mess in this. She’s looking for love and just wants to settle down. She’s surprisingly sassy and abrasive in this. I love it!

I’m also watching these web/mobile dramas: Falling for Challenge(starring Kim So Eun & EXO’s Xiumin) and High End Crush(with Jung Il Woo & Jin Se Yun). These mini dramas are really the best to fill in time between shows.